Achievement goals in Turkish high school PE setting: The predicting role of social physique anxiety

The objectives of this study were to determine high school students' achievement goals and social physique anxiety level according to gender and grade level and to examine the role of social physique anxiety in predicting achievement goals. Participants consisted of 1359 female and 1286 male high school students from central Turkey. The results showed that females obtained higher scores on mastery and performance avoidance achievement goals and social physique anxiety, 10th-grade students obtained higher scores on mastery achievement goals, 9th- and 10th-grade students obtained higher scores than students in other grades on performance approach achievement goals, 9th- and 10th-grade students obtained higher scores than students in other grades on performance avoidance achievement goals, and 9th-grade students obtained higher scores than 11th-grade students on social physique anxiety. Furthermore, social physique anxiety was found to be a positive predictor of performance avoidance achievement goals in physical education. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.